After the War
by dandycandy13
Summary: Immediately following the last chapter of Deathly Hallows before the epilogue . Book cannon as back story. Harry/Ginny & Ron/Hermione.


Harry made his way through the devastatingly ruined, yet somehow still familiar corridors of Hogwarts Castle alone. Ron and Hermione had gone hand-in-hand back to the Great Hall as Ron wanted to be with his family, and Hermione wanted to be with Ron. When Harry finally reached the portrait of the fat lady which guarded the entrance to Gryffindor Tower on the seventh floor, he was very pleased to see that she had not run off to celebrate with her friend Violet as he didn't much fancy a trip to library at the moment.

"Password?" she said.

"I don't know the password. I haven't been at school this year in case you hadn't noticed. Could you let me in though, killing Lord Voldemort really takes it out of you," said Harry, wondering whether she was actually being serious.

"Of course, Mr. Potter. Thank you, Mr. Potter," and the portrait swung forward revealing the familiar round hole in the wall. Harry climbed over its edge and headed for the staircase which led to the boys dormitories. Once he'd reached the top of the stairs he stared at the all too familiar door which he had open a countless number of times during his six years at Hogwarts.

Harry fell back onto his old four-poster bed with a heavy sigh. It took him a moment to decide whether he was more hungry or tired before he called Kreacher to him. "Kreacher, come here," he said and a moment later there was a faint pop and Kreacher appeared at the foot of his bed. "I want to thank you, Kreacher. I saw you leading the other house-elves down in the entry hall earlier, Regulus would be proud. But now, if you would, could you get me a sandwich and some pumpkin juice, please."

"Yes, Master Harry," and there was another pop and the elf was gone. Harry stood and rummaged in the pouch which hung around his neck and pulled out his pajamas. He removed the pouch from his neck and the wands from his pocket, placing them inside the pouch, and then changed into his pajamas before tucking the pouch under his pillow making a mental note to return the Elder Wand to its rightful location whenever he woke. It was then that Kreacher returned with another faint pop holding out a plate with a sandwich and a goblet of pumpkin juice.

"Thank you, Kreacher. You may go." He took the plate and goblet from the elf and then with another pop Kreacher was gone. Harry sat on the edge of his bed and ate his sandwich and drank juice just as he stood up to crawl into bed, the door of the dormitory swung open and Dean, Seamus, Neville, and Ron all entered looking rather exhausted. None of them said anything at first. Neville and Seamus opened their respective trunks and pulled out their pajamas, Seamus extracting his spare pair and handing them the Dean. Ron came over and sat on his bed opposite Harry's.

"Do you have my things or does Hermione?"

"You didn't ask her?"

"She was talking to Ginny when we came up, she only looked up for a moment when we said we were going to bed."

"Oh, she has your knapsack in her bag."

"Do you have extra pajamas I could borrow then? I don't much want to go back down there just now."

"Why not? You two having a row already?"

"No, no. My family's all down there. And mum's still crying and Hermione's trying to get Ginny to stop crying, and it's a big mess, but I'm so tired."

"No need to explain, here," said Harry pulling another set of pajamas from his bag without taking it from under his pillow. He was very glad he had gotten Hermione to do that undetectable extension charm on it.

Minutes later all five boys hand climbed into their beds and only minutes after that they were all fast asleep.

* * *

It was nearly 12-hours later before Harry felt rested enough to even look at his watch for the time. When he did finally wake up he looked around the room and saw that Ron, too was awake and staring at the ceiling above his bed. The other three beds were empty and Seamus and Neville's trunks had gone. "Ron?"

"Harry. How are you feeling?"

"Alright, you?"

"Alright? You just defeated You-Know-Who. He's never coming back. I think you should feel more than alright, mate!"

"You know, you're probably right, and also, Ron…you can call him by his name now, it's not jinxed anymore. But let's get dressed and go have a poke around for something to eat, yeah?"

"Yeah. I'm starving." So that's what they did, Harry and Ron. They got dressed and headed down to the common room, but just as they were about to push the portrait hole open there was a noise behind them. Harry, so used to being on-guard all the time while they'd been on the run, turned around and drew his wand immediately. When he saw who had made the noise he tucked his wand back into his pocket and looked ashamed. Hermione and Ginny were standing in the middle of the doorway leading from the girls dormitories staring at them.

"Where do you two think you're going?" Hermione said at once.

"To find some food. We're starving," Ron said turning back to the portrait hole.

"Oh no you don't," said Hermione rushing over and grabbing his arm, whirling him back around.

"Why not? I'm starving, Hermione."

"I know you are, but so are we," she motioned to herself and Ginny as she said this. "I wanted to have a talk first, though."

"What about?" Ron said, allowing Hermione to lead him to an armchair by the fireplace.

"Us."

"What d'you mean?"

"You know what I mean, Ronald. Us. Me and you. This. Whatever this is. I just want to know what's happening here."

"You mean, _this_?" Ron said as he grabbed Hermione by the waist and pulled her onto his lap as he sat in the armchair. "_This_ Hermione Granger, is love and there is nothing you can do about it." Then he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and kissed her with enough passion to knock the wind out of both of them in a matter of seconds and to make both Harry and Ginny go a very deep shade of scarlet as they looked on.

"Not _here_, Ronald!" said Hermione crossly, though she'd obviously enjoyed herself. She tried to stand up, but he wouldn't let her.

"No, you wanted to talk, so let's talk," he said pulling her back onto his lap. "What's happening here is that I love you and nothing you can say or do is going to change that so you're going to have to get used to it. You're my girlfriend now and well I love you and I don't ever want to even for just one second think I'm going to lose you _ever _again, got that?"

"Got it," she said laying her head on his shoulder. A few seconds later she whispered against his skin. "I love you, too." And Ron held her tight to his chest for a minute or maybe longer before they both stood up and turned around to find Harry and Ginny entwined in each other having a ferocious snog in the middle of the common room. Ron cleared his throat loudly enough for them to hear, his arm still around Hermione who had her arms around his middle.

Harry and Ginny broke apart suddenly and stared at each other and then at Ron and Hermione, both going deep red. "What's say we all go get some food, eh?" asked Ron. "I'm _starving_," he added quickly as they all headed for the portrait hole.


End file.
